Advertisement
Acting | Associations | Auteur | Cinematography | Digital | Directing | Editing | Education | Exhibition | Festivals | Indie Movie Guide | Internet | Locations | Screenwriting
Directing
Page 1 of 4 pages 1 2 3 > Last »
Giuseppe Tornatore Dives Into the Great Unknown
He may be best known for the beloved Cinema Paradiso, but Giuseppe Tornatore's The Unknown Woman, his first film since 2000's Malena, is a substantial departure from that bittersweet love song to cinema. The Unknown Woman stars Russian actress Xenia Rappaport as Irena, a mysterious Ukrainian woman who ingratiates herself with a prosperous Italian family, taking care of their young daughter. Is she after blackmail? Revenge? Lightning-quick flashbacks provide hints of terrible secrets from her past, andThe Unknown Woman constantly keeps us off-balance with its blend of suspense and melodrama, and its mingling of past and present into one continuous stream.
(No comments yet)
Nick Stoller Can't Forget Sarah Marshall
Longtime fans of Judd Apatow will recognize a few familiar moments in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, out in theaters Friday, April 18. From an awkward reunion of sorts for lead actor-writer Jason Segel and his “Undeclared” love Carla Gallo to Segel’s uncontrollable sobbing over a girl who has left him for another man, the movie borrows a few tricks from Apatow’s television series “Undeclared.” “I think this is a story that we started telling eight years ago on the TV show that no one saw and that we’re completing now on the bigger screen, with full frontal male nudity,” jokes Marshall director Nick Stoller. Together with Segel, who appeared in a handful of episodes of the 2001 college comedy, Stoller had been a force behind the series.
(No comments yet)
Patricia Riggen Crosses Borders
Immigration has been a hot topic of debate in this country for the past decade (just ask Lou Dobbs) and with this fall’s election just around the corner, it may even be the deciding factor in determining our next president. But if you think that Patricia Riggen’s feature film debut, Under the Same Moon, is a controversial or political vehicle for discussing such views, think again.
(1 comment)
Zak Penn's Grand Experiment in Comedy
In-demand screenwriter steps behind the camera for The Grand
Sure Zak Penn can write you a surefire blockbuster. He has proven that time and again with X-Men, Electra, Fantastic Four, etc. But that's not all he can do. The Grand, an improvisational comedy set in the world of competitive poker that he wrote and directed, contains neither a superhero nor a highfalutin special effect. But what the film lacks in terms of big-budget luxuries it makes up for with those erstwhile and less marketable traits: Intelligence, wit and originality.
(2 comments)
Zak Penn: Things I’ve Learned
"On the blockbuster summer movies, writing subplots that intersect with the main plot in the third act can be the difference between a good script and a bad one" and other lessons learned from one of Hollywood's most in-demand screenwriters.
(No comments yet)
Deconstructing Penelope
Mark Palansky's philosophy of film
Blockbuster moviemaking would be the expected career path of one of Michael Bay's former employees, but Mark Palansky has never been one for doing the "expected" thing. In facting, spending the early part of his career on the sets of such big-budget projects as Armageddon, Pearl Harbor and The Island, helped this Toronto native make the most of a $12 million budget on the quirky Penelope.
(No comments yet)
Jay Russell: Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker
"Do a lot of daydreaming" and other lessons from Hollywood's go-to guy when it comes to family fantasy films.
(No comments yet)
Jay Russell Brings The Water Horse to Life
Since 2000’s My Dog Skip, director Jay Russell has been the go-to man for bringing the heartwarming tales of children’s novels to life on the big screen. His latest effort, The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, which opens on Christmas Day, used the resources of Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop to bring the mythical hatchling to life and portray the bond between boy and pet.
(3 comments)
Ed Burns and iTunes: A Match Made in Heaven
Indie stalwart makes history (again) with the first feature film premiere on iTunes
Twelve years and seven directorial efforts after storming the indie film scene at Sundance, Ed Burns is making history once again, as he premieres Purple Violets exclusively on iTunes.
(8 comments)
Ed Burns: Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker
"Don't try and compete with the studio films" and other lessons from a true indie moviemaker.
"When sending your screenplay out to a movie star, don’t expect to hear back from them for at least three months" and other lessons from a truly independent moviemaker.
(No comments yet)
Kasi Lemmons Finds the Voice to Speak Out in Talk to Me
For writer-director Kasi Lemmons, making movies has never been a question of black or white, but rather varying shades of gray. "The gray area is so much more interesting and so much more realistic and valid to our experiences,” says the 46-year-old multi-hyphenate. “People are not all good or all bad. They’re complicated. Complicated characters are what interest me."
(2 comments)
Other People’s Money
How to make a living while building a name in Hollywood
You've learned how to block a scene, move a dolly, mix a soundtrack, cut a negative, color-correct a work print, watch Hitchcock and critique Spielberg - but you don't know how to make money. Here's how.
(No comments yet)
Balancing the Roles of Writer and Director
Determining the roles of "writer" and "director" begins and ends with one simple question: What is the story I'm telling?
(No comments yet)
Casting is Everything: Expert Advice on How to Cast for Success
Warren Beatty may have said it best when he declared that "Casting is everything." And sometimes type-casting is the way to go.
(No comments yet)
The Context of Innovative Film Finance
You have a great script, an incredible director, cast and team and you're passionate about making this film. Sounds like a slam dunk, right? Wrong! You still need the money - and, in an ideal world, the distribution to pay it back.
(No comments yet)
Henry Jaglom: Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker
Tell the truth.
(1 comment)
Mike Binder: Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker
1. Take a nap at lunch. The A.D and producer will always beg you to have some meeting or scout something, or talk through another scene, but always say no. They'll learn to find other times for your attention. You need time alone in your trailer or on a walk or a drive for yourself, or hang out with a buddy. Get a half hour where no one's asking you something at the very least. The second half of the days dailies will thank you for it.
(No comments yet)
Things I’ve Learned as a MovieMaker
I know from being on the other side of the lens how important it is for the director to be able to communicate and earn everyone's trust. The first few times I directed, I only thought about recording the actors' performances. Every once and a while I would get an idea about how framing a shot could have an impact, but I didn't really understand that part of filmmaking in the beginning. I'm always prodding myself and whatever cinematographer I'm working with to try to encourage me to think of ways to assist the actor with the composition and cinematic choices.
(No comments yet)
Happy Days Forever
After 50 years in Hollywood, actor-writer-director-producer Ron Howard admits that he's still got a lot to learn
Though the role of cinematographer is not one he's ever tackled directly, actor-writer-producer-director Ron Howard's behind-the-camera prowess has been impressive enough to earn him the 2007 American Society of Cinematographers Board of Governors Award, which is presented annually to an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to advancing the art of moviemaking.
(1 comment)
Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker
You can't be fatalistic. You can't sit down and let it roll downhill. You can't say films are all about fantasy, and meanwhile we destroy the planet.
(No comments yet)
Fighting Irish
Ken Loach takes on the Irish resistance in The Wind That Shakes the Barley
Although the storyline of Ken Loach's new film, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, seems somewhat forced, the movie succeeds in making the subject vibrant and visual for viewers today. MM caught up with Loach and The Wind That Shakes the Barley screenwriter Paul Laverty to get to the bottom of the matter.
(No comments yet)
Things I’ve Learned As A Moviemaker
On every flick since Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, I've been editing while still in the midst of production. I'm not talking about some hired editor piecing together an assembly while I'm on set, either-I mean that, whenever I'm not shooting, I'm in the edit room with my footage. For this reason, we keep our editing bay as close to the set as possible. While the crew is taking 15 minutes to an hour to set-up the next shot, I'm behind the Avid, putting the flick together.
(1 comment)
Not-so-Silent Smith Speaks Truth
With An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder, writer-director Kevin Smith grins and bares it all
Kevin Smith has built a career on creating characters to whom almost any viewer can relate. His repertoire includes angst-filled retail clerks, heartfelt comic book romantics, fast-talking angels and widowed fathers, and he ties them all together with a no-holds-barred honesty with which Smith approaches his everyday life.
(No comments yet)
Things I’ve Learned As A Moviemaker
Don't worry if you don't know what your story is about.
(No comments yet)
Things I’ve Learned As A Moviemaker
You know, you're with the subject for a long time. It's important that you get it to where you want it to be.
(No comments yet)
The Circus Comes to Town
Todd Field talks about shooting In the Bedroom on the coast of Maine
If up until now Todd Field has been known primarily as an
actor, all that is about to change with In the Bedroom,
his feature directorial debut. The movie garnered a special
jury prize for acting for the film's stars, Sissy Spacek and
Tom Wilkinson, and is already generating some Oscar talk.
Here, Field talks about how being an actor informed some of
his directing choices and why being an performer is a whole
lot easier than being a director.
(No comments yet)
Things We’ve Learned As Moviemakers
Don't ask people to do something they can't do. Casting is crucial. Don't give a very physical actor a lot of intellectual reasons to do something; learn to know your actors and direct each differently according to who they are as individuals
(No comments yet)
Henry Jaglom’s Moment of Truth
Film's freest director dissects the Hollywood machine in Hollywood Dreams
When it comes to the film world's original independent voices, names like Orson Welles and John Cassavetes are the first to be bandied about. But for more than 35 years, Henry Jaglom has been making movies the only way he knows how-his way! Beginning with A Safe Place in 1971 and leading up to the recent Hollywood Dreams, the former actor has managed to complete 15 feature films throughout his career-not just a writer and director, but as an actor, editor and distributor, too.
(1 comment)
Ice in Her Stomach
A Conversation with Dogme 95 Director Lone Scherfig about "breaking the rules of film language" on Italian for Beginners
In 1995 Danish moviemakers Thomas Vinterberg and Lars von
Trier took a break from the technical conventions of modern
cinema and created the now famous Dogme 95 manifesto. This
month, Italian For Beginners, the fourth Danish Dogme
film, will be released with director Lone Scherfig at the
helm. In a conversation with MM, Scherfig talks about making
a Dogme comedy, Danish insecurities and staying true to that
prickly "Vow of Chastity."
(No comments yet)
Comic Relief
Mike Binder and Adam Sandler team up for a unique take on the events of 9/11 with Reign Over Me
Six months after the five-year anniversary of the events of September 11th-and months after United 93 and World Trade Center-comedian-turned-auteur Mike Binder is releasing his own take on the events of that fateful day-or, more appropriately, the after effects-with Reign Over Me, starring Adam Sandler.
(No comments yet)
What I’ve Learned as a MovieMaker
Don't stop working. For me, moviemaking is practice that makes you better but never perfect.
(No comments yet)
A Few Minutes with William (Bill) Lustig
Lustig speaks with MM about his career and what it takes to stay at the top of the moviemaking game over the long term.
Bill Lustig has been appreciated by the French as a director with a unique, unflinching cinematic eye for years. At home in L.A., he?s best known as a cult midnight moviemaker who has crafted some of the most fun, frightening, gory films of the ?80s, including Maniac, Vigilante, and Relentless. Intelligent, articulate and intimidatingly well-steeped in film lore, the hardworking Lustig recently began a new career as a film restorer and DVD producer with Anchor Bay Entertainment.
(No comments yet)
Things I’ve Learned as a MovieMaker
The process of each actor is different. Some are intuitive, some love to rehearse, some hate to rehearse. In some instances, you may want to rehearse even when they don't want to; it's just a matter of them understanding the process. Actors are so exposed. Directors are behind the camera crafting our world while the actors are exposed in front of the camera, exposed with their emotions. It's a matter of finding the best atmosphere for them to work.
(No comments yet)
From Mexico to Hollywood and Back
Writer-Director Alfonso Cuarón discusses Y Tu Mama Tambien
Alfonso Cuarón's Y Tu Mama Tambien is a film
set in Mexico about two young men on the cusp of manhood who
take up one summer with a beautiful young woman several years
their senior. A sexy road movie with a dispassionate, often
blunt take on modern day Mexican social and political realities,
Cuarón's latest work showcases his off-the-cuff visual
and narrative style that nearly got him banned by Mexican
censors.
(No comments yet)
Things I’ve Learned as a MovieMaker
Be serious about it. The characters have to believe in the situation they are in and play it for real.
(No comments yet)
Advertisement
Latest from the blog:
“Give ‘Till It Hurts” at the Fourth Annual SAW Blood Drive
SAW fans may get to save a life or two with the Fourth Annual SAW “Give ‘Till It Hurts” blood drive. Benefiting the Red Cross, the blood drive is set to coincide with the Halloween premiere of SAW V, the latest entry in the gruesome Lionsgate Films horror franchise, opening nationwide on October 26.
Posted 09.3.08 | Happenings | News/Commentary | No comments yet...
Other recent posts:
Tropic Thunder Holds Strong Over Labor Day Weekend
ASC Looking for TV’s Greatest DPs
USC’s Elizabeth Daley to Receive The Charles S. Swartz Award
Posts people are talking about:
SITE DELIVERY OPTIONS
